PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds leaves Early Access on December 20th; New map hits testing today

2017’s defining game will get its full post Early Access release on PC on December 20th.

That’s a little later than the September date that was originally touted back in March, but at just nine months after release is still a remarkable achievement for a game that has grown so much and defined an industry since its arrival.

In other good news for players, the highly anticipated desert map will go live on test servers this morning and remain available for two days. This will be the first chance for players to explore a new world within the game beyond the launch map, and comes complete with a load of new additions – three new vehicles (van, pick-up, jet ski), three new weapons (a new revolver bolt action rifle and sawn-off shotgun) and plenty of tweaks to the mechanics.

Developer Bluehole has also confirmed that the game will not increase in price when 1.0 is released, and that all future maps will be free.

“We started working on our game in late March 2016 and conducted the first closed pre-alpha test in July. Back then almost everything besides the main mechanics and the game concept was a placeholder. But we knew that the Battle Royale experience we were offering was unique and the feedback of that small group of first testers confirmed it,” the latest developer update reads.

“Before our release on Steam Early Access in March 2017, after only a year of development, we knew that we already had a small fan base that was looking forward to our Steam release. Based on our testers and viewers reactions we prepared and hoped for a moderate success. We were not prepared for what followed.

“Breaking all kinds of videogame records was a very exciting experience, especially for a small team like ours, but it also meant that we had some very serious stepping up to do. We had to grow as a company and we had to do it very quickly. We hired new people, made opened new departments within the company and finally even separated from Bluehole into PUBG Corporation to better focus on PUBG.

“We know that there have been problems along the way and that things aren’t always perfect. We had to work on and monitor two builds, the differences between which were more than trivial. As a result we were unable to address the issues on the live servers as quickly as we used to before. We are very sorry about any frustration that this has caused.

“Our journey is your journey, because without you none of this would be possible. We are forever grateful to our community for your support, your constructive criticism and your love for our game. Most importantly, we want you to know that this is just the beginning. When PC 1.0 comes out, our journey doesn’t end. When PC 1.0 comes out, the first part of our journey will be over, but only so that the next one can begin.

“We believe that we’ve completed the core Battle Royale structure for PUBG through the Closed Beta and Early Access. We want to continue our work on perfecting it and improve in many areas. Expect to see some major (and some minor) changes in gameplay, sound, optimization, matchmaking, UI, animation, gunplay and other areas after the release of version 1.0.”